York College
‘ofqual’
Ofqual has today launched a consultation about how it will regulate T-levels – but has only given the sector four weeks to respond. The exams regulator is asking for views on how it should frame its rules, including on issues such as how assessments should be set and marked, when retakes can be taken, and […]
News
A second delay to when the Institute for Apprenticeships will take responsibility for T-levels has been confirmed. According to the institute’s business plan for 2018/19, published today, it only expects to have agreed a “full implementation timetable” for taking on the new technical qualifications by next March. It was originally meant to take control of […]
The system that makes A-levels so revered would work just as effectively for the new technical exams, argues Rod Bristow The groundbreaking Copyright Act of 1710 was in its long form entitled “an Act for the Encouragement of Learning”. The idea behind it was simple, that by protecting the intellectual property developed by authors and […]
Opinion
The Department for Education should have left more time to make sure T-levels go to plan, according to its top civil servant. Jonathan Slater was questioned by the Public Accounts Committee today about his ministerial direction, published in May, in which he asked to defer the start date from 2020 to 2021. He was overruled […]
Excitement has been building ahead of the speech from the skills minister, Anne Milton, at AELP’s annual conference. There was a chance the speech would be used to announce a dramatic policy U-turn: scrapping non-levy employer contributions for at least some apprenticeships. And it has been many years since I can remember an FE minister […]
Supplements
The Federation of Awarding Bodies is gearing up for possible legal action over T-levels following the start of a controversial tender process, FE Week can reveal. The government launched its hunt for awarding organisations to deliver the new qualifications with two “market engagement” events earlier this month. But AOs have been left fuming over the […]
The Institute for Apprenticeships should be scrapped, according to an influential committee that sits in the House of Lords. The Lords economic affairs committee has also poured scorn on the government’s target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020. “The IfA should be abolished,” it said in a new report. The role of the institute […]
The big guns of the awarding organisation world are drawing the battle lines in the imminent struggle for ownership of the first T-levels. Despite numerous concerns from across the sector, the government is ploughing ahead with its controversial plan to deploy just one AO per qualification when the first three pathways are launched in 2020. […]
The controversial tender process for T-levels’ awarding organisations has been launched, and will begin with two “market engagement” events next month. The government is ploughing ahead with its contentious plans to use just one AO per qualification, as per Lord Sainsbury’s recommendation in his review of technical education, despite high-profile concerns. On Friday, the Department […]
